ANALYSIS OF FIBER REIN FORCE POLYMER BUTT JOINT AND WELDED JOINT

Abstract

Fiber Rein Force Polymer finds application in precision work such as shipbuilding, pressure vessel, bridge construction industries etc. Also its applications are versatile as it is used for joining of metallic and non metallic materials. The joining of two components together is an important and essential aspect of fabrication and erection. Every structure includes assemble materials into more complex shape. Often joint of a pipeline is the weakest link, as strength of joint is lower than strength of parent material, for example, joint of structural application with welding,  failure occurs in most of the cases  at the welded region. In critical applications, the assembly team is responsible for avoiding its failure; however there is need to check the welded joint on a regular time interval. However many different kind of techniques are available to join the pipelines of various industries. These are broadly classified as bolting, welding, brazing and soldering, adhesive bonding etc. The winding machine is developed to wind coarsely woven fabric (600 g/m²)  found to be quite satisfactory, when tested under three point bending test on Universal Testing Machine (UTM). To make a Fiber reinforcement polymer (FRP) joint, the E-glass fibre is cut into an appropriate trapezoidal shape which is wetted in epoxy and wound over steel pipe. The FRP sleeve thus obtained is of uniform thickness in its central position. Experiments are performed on different piles on pipes to check the strength of joint. In this study, a butt-joint between two mild steel pipes of 25.29⁺_-^0.05 mm outside diameter and 2.00⁺_-^0.05 mm wall thickness is made by wrapping a glass fiber fabric. The fabric is wetted in epoxy before it wrapped around the joint. The joint is tested under different load condition, three point bend test, four point bend test, and tensile test. The strength of the FRP-joint is compared with the strength of welded joints. A designed experiment was carried out to test the mechanical properties at various combinations of fiber loading. Based on the test results and observations made during processing, subjects for future projects are recommended. The experiment revealed that the feather fiber decreased the strength of the composite and had no effect on the modulus.